(a) Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to a method and a system for controlling the opening and closing of a vehicle door, and more particularly, to a method and a system for controlling the opening and closing of a vehicle door in a vehicle to which a smart key is applied in which the door is opened by merely operating an exterior handle of the door to unlock the door when the smart key in within a particular distance range.
(b) Description of the Related Art
In general, a vehicle is formed with an interior for accommodating a driver or accompanying passengers, and doors are mounted on the vehicle to open and close the interior of the vehicle. In the case of a passenger vehicle, front doors are mounted on a front side of the vehicle along a length direction thereof, and rear doors are mounted on a rear side of the vehicle along the length direction thereof, and the front and rear doors are typically mounted on a vehicle body and are rotatable via a hinge.
A ratchet is mounted on the door to allow a user to close the door. In addition, after the door is closed, a door lock striker is mounted on the vehicle body at a corresponding mounting position of the ratchet. The door lock striker is mounted as a pin or hook type, and the door lock striker is engaged with the ratchet embedded in the door to maintain the door in a closed state. In addition, on the exterior of the vehicle, a handle for operating the ratchet is provided. The user uses a key to unlock the door, and operates the exterior handle to open the door.
Meanwhile, a smart key has recently been developed for vehicles. In a vehicle to which a smart key is applied, a user in possession of the smart key is able to unlock a door by pressing or engaging an unlocking button disposed on an exterior handle (e.g., by placing a finger on the sensor, the door may be unlocked when the user is in possession of the smart key). After that, the user may open the door by pulling the exterior handle. However, as described above, the vehicle to which a smart key according to the related art is applied has a drawback in that it requires two steps of operations for the user to enter the vehicle, since the user is required to open the door after operating the unlocking button mounted on the handle.
In addition, since the unlocking button is mounted on the exterior handle, the external appearance of the handle may be undesirable. Further, since the unlocking button is disposed within a limited area of the handle, there is a limitation in design of the unlocking button, in addition to generation of field claims due to frequent faults of the unlocking button.
The above information disclosed in this section is merely to enhance the understanding of the background of the invention and therefore it may contain information that does not form the prior art that is already known in this country to a person of ordinary skill in the art.